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Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Trump's Plan to Arm Kurds Lays Bare the Strategic Vacuum in Syria - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Trump's Plan to Arm Kurds Lays Bare the Strategic Vacuum in Syria

James F. Jeffrey

Foreign Policy

May 9, 2017

The administration's plan to retake Raqqa from the Islamic State could further inflame tensions with Turkey and Iran.

President Donald Trump has his work cut out for him next week in his first meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. While many issues crowd their agenda, the situation in northern Syria will be the most difficult. Tensions remain high between the United States and Turkey about the role of the Syrian Kurdish PYD and its military wing YPG in the fight against the Islamic State, following a Turkish air attack on YPG bases along the Iraqi-Syrian border on April 23. In private and publicly, at an Atlantic Council meeting on April 28, Erdogan stressed that he is ready to act further against the PYD.